“Cellulite” (also named gynoid lipodystrophy) is a tissue that exhibits a rippled appearance of the skin mainly observed in the abdomen, thigh and buttock of women, and is especially a cosmetic problem, since it markedly impairs skin appearance. The pathogenesis of cellulite has not been fully elucidated academically or medically, and it is simply considered to be an accumulation of subcutaneous fat. According to a noninvasive analysis using MRI conducted by Mirrashed, F. and Querleux, B et al., morphological changes of adipose cells and adipose tissues were not observed in cellulite skin, but in cellulite skin, it was revealed that a part of the subcutaneous fat tissues projected deeply into the dermal layer (Non-patent Literature 1 and 2).
Since 40% of adult women have cellulite, and cellulite significantly impairs aesthetic appearance, there is a high demand for alleviating, preventing and treating cellulite, and products and aesthetic treatments intended for cellulite are already on the market both domestically and abroad. However, since the histological characteristics defining cellulite and the formation mechanism thereof have not been elucidated, such products are usually directed to a product lacking effective data or simply slimming agents intended to reduce the amount of fat. Thus, there is very little at present that is really effective for reducing, preventing and treating cellulite, and no products specifically targeted for cellulite have been commercially available yet.
Although there are few references disclosing drugs and/or treatments for improving the appearance of cellulite along with experimental data on them, nicotinamide, conjugated linoleic acid and sulfocarbiose are disclosed as drugs that alleviate cellulite by applying on the affected cellulite site, along with experimental data (Patent Literature 1 and 2, and Non-patent Literature 8), and furthermore 1-4 MHz ultrasonic stimulation is disclosed as a treatment for alleviating cellulite (Patent Literature 3). While these references disclose data indicating the effect of alleviating cellulite, they do not clearly demonstrate its mechanism of action, and thus it is still unknown whether the reduction in cellulite is caused by the reduction in the amount of fat or whether a mechanism other than the reduction in fat works.
Researches on cellulite are mainly carried out by investigating skin tissue by means of noninvasive methods. However, in addition to a problem relating to a small number of test samples due to the nature of noninvasive methods, only fragmented information has been obtained. Thus, it is hardly said that cellulite has been systematically investigated.